California to keep paying Walgreens despite abortion dispute

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s Medicaid program will proceed to pay Walgreens about $1.5 billion annually regardless of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring final month the state was achieved doing enterprise with the pharmacy big after it indicated it could not promote abortion drugs by mail in some states.

“California gained’t be doing enterprise with @Walgreens — or any firm that cowers to the extremists and places ladies’s lives in danger. We’re achieved,” Newsom tweeted March 6.

He then ordered his administration to not renew a $54 million contract with the corporate to offer prescription remedy to the state’s jail system.

However reducing ties with Walgreens wasn’t as clear reduce because the governor first indicated. Walgreens has a way more profitable connection to California’s Medicaid program — the joint federal and state medical insurance program for people who find themselves disabled or have low incomes. Federal legislation says Medicaid sufferers have the appropriate to fill prescriptions from any prepared and certified supplier.

That features Walgreens.

Final yr, California’s Medicaid program paid the corporate greater than $1.5 billion. The California Division of Well being Care Companies stated California will proceed to adjust to that legislation, Kaiser Well being Information reported.

“California has no intention of taking any motion that might violate federal Medicaid necessities, or that might undermine entry for low-income people,” stated Tony Cava, spokesman for the California Division of Well being Care Companies.

Anthony York, spokesman for the governor, additionally advised Kaiser Well being Information that the Newsom administration had invited Walgreens to use once more for the $54 million contract the state selected to not renew final month.

“Tweeting isn’t coverage,” York advised the information outlet.

This isn’t the primary time Newsom has made a splashy announcement with out first understanding the entire particulars behind it. At first of the pandemic, the Newsom administration rapidly signed a contract to buy masks and different private protecting gear, irritating some lawmakers who didn’t know the main points.

Newsom’s spat with Walgreens started after the corporate indicated it could not distribute abortion drugs by mail in some conservative states. That tablet, mifepristone, when mixed with one other tablet, will finish a being pregnant. It has been permitted since 2000 within the U.S. to be used as much as the tenth week of being pregnant. Right now, greater than half of all abortions within the U.S. are achieved this fashion, based on the Guttmacher Institute, a analysis group that helps abortion rights.

A number of states have taken steps to limit mifepristone, after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom struck down federal abortion protections final yr. Earlier this yr, attorneys normal in 20 states, principally with Republican governors, warned Walgreens it may face authorized penalties if it distributed mifepristone of their states. Walgreens responded by saying it could not distribute mifepristone in states the place it isn’t authorized to take action.

On Friday, Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman referred inquiries to Newsom’s workplace. However Engerman reiterated the corporate’s place about abortion drugs.

“Walgreens plans to dispense mifepristone in any jurisdiction the place it’s legally permissible to take action,” Engerman stated. “As soon as we’re licensed by the FDA, we’ll dispense this remedy in step with federal and state legal guidelines. Offering legally permitted drugs to sufferers is what pharmacies do, and is rooted in our dedication to the communities during which we function.”

Newsom’s former chief of workers, Ann O’Leary, represented Walgreens in discussions with the Newsom administration over the difficulty final month, Politico reported.